Soft, light, and oh-so fluffy vegan vanilla cupcakes…
Egg Free
Dairy Free
Easy To Make
Just 8 Ingredients
This classic vanilla cupcake recipe is so simple, you probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry to make them.
You might also like: Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies – NO crazy ingredients
Easy Vegan Cupcake Recipe
If you don’t already have a go-to vegan cupcake recipe, well now you do!
Everyone should have a basic cupcake recipe in their repertoire, because cupcakes are perfect for so many occasions.
They’re quick to whip up any time you’re asked to provide a dessert last-minute for work or school, and you can keep all of the ingredients on hand to ensure you’re always prepared.
Cupcake Frosting Ideas
I frosted these with the homemade vegan cream cheese frosting from my Pumpkin Cupcakes recipe.
The best thing about vanilla cupcakes is that they’re a blank canvas, meaning you can change up the frosting to turn them into any flavor you wish. Chocolate frosting, buttercream, coconut frosting, peanut butter, raspberry jelly, whipped cream, chocolate ganache… the choice is completely yours. If you don’t want to bother with frosting, they’re also good plain!
If you do opt for the frosted route, my favorite icing tip is this 1M star tip by Wilton.
It’s my simple trick to effortlessly transform any basic cupcake recipe into something that looks so professional, people always think they must have come from a bakery. And yet, the entire process of frosting the cupcakes takes less than five minutes.
I also had a lot of fun with these photos. They kind of remind me of The Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh, just with cupcakes instead of houses.
If only all houses were cupcakes.
Also be sure to try these Vegan Donuts – 5 new flavors
The vegan vanilla cupcakes can be:
Whole Grain
Gluten Free
Soy Free
Refined Sugar Free
Oddly enough, the recipe was adapted from my Healthy Blueberry Muffins.
And if you’ve read the above statement and are now wondering, Does this mean you can add blueberries to batter of today’s cupcake recipe too? happily the answer is YES, you can.
Feel free to stir half a cup of fresh or thawed frozen berries into the batter—very carefully at the end, so they don’t break—and then proceed with the recipe as usual.
The blueberry version is especially good topped with homemade coconut butter.
The cupcakes turn out light and fluffy without any eggs. I used a gluten-free all-purpose mix for the vegan cupcakes in the pictures because I was taking them to an event where I knew some of the attendees were gluten-free.
I’ve also tested the recipe successfully with white, spelt, and oat flours, so those are all options here as well.
Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup milk of choice
- 1 1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup or agave
- 3 1/2 tbsp oil, or applesauce for fat-free
- 1 cup white, spelt, or bob’s gf flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- optional pinch cardamom or cinnamon
Instructions
- Whisk first 5 ingredients. Let sit for at least 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin. In a large bowl, stir all remaining ingredients, then add wet and stir just enough to form a batter. Portion into the liners about 2/3 up, because they will rise. Bake 10-12 minutes or until risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. (While I’m not personally a fan of the applesauce version, numerous readers have written in to say they tried and like it, so I’ve included the option here.)View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Healthy Party Desserts
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bars
Vegan Cheesecake – NO Cashews
(Reader Favorite Recipe)
Oh I’ve never used maple syrup as a sweetener in cakes before! Can’t wait to try that 🙂
Cupcakes are best….
You’re absolutely right when you said that I likely already have all the ingredients I need in my kitchen! Well, I just need applesauce, but really, that’s it! I love a really delicious but simple recipe that doesn’t require a crazy amount of ingredients. Oat flour, applesauce, some almond milk, baking powder, all that jazz, and BOOM, CUPCAKES. BEST go-to cupcake recipe ever!
Happy december Katie! Ant wait to whip out my spatula and make your recipes this holiday season.
I’m not rating the recipe because the GF flour I used had tapioca starch as the first ingredient, similar texture to cornstarch and they turned out gummy and took longer to bake. (President’s Choice brand for Canadian’s) I added Trader Joe’s dehydrated strawberries to half the recipe and those were tastier than the plain vanilla.Next time I’ll try Bob’s GF and see if the texture is better.
Hi Katie.
Oh my goodness, these are so good. I have not had a regular cupcake in YEARS! And this tastes just like one I would get at a party or from the grocery store. I wrote on the top of my print out copy of this recipe a keeper!
I used Coconut oil and honey (I did not have maple syrup). Wow.
Thank you so much for making these and then posting the recipe. Please keep the sweet treats coming! DF/Soy free/ and Vegan, but I can always tweek it if I have to. 🙂
So happy you tried them! Thank you so much for making the recipe 🙂
Jason (media relations), and Katie
These look fantastic. I can’t wait to try them.
Hi Katie,
Looking so forward to trying these asap! One question…you mentioned the baking soda and vinegar combination to get the rise, but I don’t see baking soda in the recipe. Did you intend to include it or does the baking powder take it’s place?
Thanks for all of your recipes!
Hi, sorry for the confusion. The original post sent out as an email did mention this, but it was changed when Katie realized her mistake – she’d gotten the recipe mixed up with her pumpkin cupcakes while writing the commentary. This one does not need any baking soda 🙂
Jason (media relations)
Can you try this with white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour?
We haven’t tried it so honestly can’t say! They might be dense. Be sure to report back if you try!
Jason (media relations)
Can I substitute the agave for white sugar? If so how much sugar should be used in its place?
Thanks!!
Can you substitute bob mills gf flour for oat flour?
We can only vouch for flours we’ve tried in the recipe, but please feel free to experiment, and be sure to report back if you do!
I saw the recipe and I thought I would try it. I am going to use all purpose flour too. I hope that turn out okay. I do have white spelt flour but have never tried it. I do not eat vegan so that is why I am going to use regular flour.